Hongwu Daming: Why hasn't my son rebelled?

Chapter 162

Zhu Qi originally thought that His Highness the Crown Prince was looking for himself and Zhu Di to intercede for those officials, but when Zhu Qi followed Zhu Di and the two to the Prince Zhu Biao, he realized that things were not that simple.

Prince Zhu Biao saw the two people approaching, and immediately went up to meet them, and then asked:
"Third brother, what did fourth brother's father say? Did he leave this matter to the third brother?"

Zhu Qi was taken aback for a moment, he didn't expect Zhu Biao's guess to be so accurate, so he nodded and said.

"Yeah, big brother, my father has entrusted me with this matter, how can I handle it well? I am hesitating in my heart, what should I do?"

After he said this, he saw Zhu Biao in front of him, with a hesitant look on his face, Zhu Qi said:

"Brother, you didn't deliberately contradict the father just now, did you? Then let this matter fall on my head."

Zhu Qi had just finished speaking, and Zhu Di who was beside him also reacted immediately, but Zhu Biao smiled wryly, and then said to Zhu Qi:

"Of course I didn't do it on purpose, but I think the same as my father, this matter must only be done by you, third child."

Zhu Biao continued:

"Many of those officials are really dedicated to the country and have no malicious intentions.

Third child, you must also distinguish clearly when investigating, and don't accidentally hurt Zhongliang.

As for those who deliberately filled their pockets and infringed on the court's taxation for their own selfishness, they were naturally dealt with impartially. "

Zhu Qi showed a troubled expression, and then continued:
"Brother, I understand what you said, but it's really too difficult to do it."

Zhu Biao sighed, patted Zhu Qi on the shoulder and said:

"I know that this matter will offend many ministers in the court. And the emperor's side must also mean that he would rather kill the wrong than let it go.

But the matter of asking you, brother, is not for your own self-interest, but we still need someone to handle things in the court.

These ministers are all killed, so who else will do things?Isn't it chilling people's hearts. "

What Zhu Biao said is indeed correct. In history, the empty printing case involved tens of thousands of officials. Basically, all officials below the six deputy departments were killed by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Or to say that the occupation with the highest death rate during the Hongwu period was an official.

And Zhu Biao's meaning is obviously to keep as many officials as possible, but this is contrary to Zhu Yuanzhang's meaning.

Zhu Yuanzhang would rather kill the wrong than let him go!
Zhu Qi listened to his elder brother, not didn't listen to his elder brother, it can be said that he was in a dilemma.

But in all fairness, Zhu Qi didn't have much interest in killing these officials.

As Zhu Biao said, a large part of the officials involved in the empty printing case came out of official habits, so they brought empty documents to reconcile accounts.

But it is not ruled out that a small number of corrupt officials take advantage of this loophole to embezzle and corrupt.

And Zhu Biao saw Zhu Qi's embarrassed expression, and then said:

"Brother also knows that it is really difficult to investigate clearly who is an honest official and who is a corrupt official..."

Zhu Qi smiled, and then said to Zhu Biao:

"Brother, if you really want to find out, it's actually not as difficult as you think."

Zhu Biao was taken aback when he heard Zhu Qi say this, and then asked Zhu Qi:

"Third, listen to what you mean, do you have a way to check clearly?"

Zhu Qi didn't nod directly, but said:

"If you want to find out who is corrupt and who is not, you just need to compare the taxation of the previous central investigation with the taxation of the local investigation.

Most of those with too large a gap have problems. "

As soon as Zhu Qi said this, Zhu Biao who was beside him hesitated for a moment, and said to Zhu Qi:

"Third brother, you may not be in the court, so you don't know about this matter.

If there is no such blank printed document, in previous years, the central finance and local finance are completely out of line.

If this is the basis for judging the crimes of those officials, I am afraid that no official in this world can escape the crime. "

Of course Zhu Qi understood this truth, not to mention the Ming Dynasty, even in modern times with such a system of auditing, the reconciliation of the central and local finances is a persistent problem every year.

Because it is impossible for you to match this account perfectly, even if you can reduce the error to within 21% in the 1st century, that is a very remarkable thing.

Only with the help of the system can the error be reduced to this range.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was no computer system at all. If you want to investigate the detailed tax situation of each place, it is simply a dream!
Therefore, we can only set a rough range, and within this range, most of the local officials are relatively passable.

And if it exceeds this range, you can investigate carefully to see if there is any problem.

According to the research of those historians, the range of this interval is ten percent.

Of course, if it is said that the officials of the central government are all in collusion with the local government, for example, in the last case, it is really difficult to say.

People may even get rid of the accounts of the central and local governments when they make accounts. What do you use to check?

That's really what Zhu Yuanzhang said, all the officials are thinking about how to suck blood from the court.

Under such circumstances, it is really impossible for a god to save him.

Of course, the Hongwu period was when Daming was first established, so such a thing naturally did not exist.

Let's not talk about whether central officials are willing to collude with local officials.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang's ability to work as a spy can also guarantee that if there is any correspondence between central officials and local officials, or any special close contacts, they can be known immediately.

There is no way to monitor hundreds of officials across the country, and there is no problem in monitoring central officials.

Zhu Qi felt that this was also the reason why Zhu Yuanzhang was angry. Perhaps most of the officials in these six departments had connections with local officials.

It just so happened that the empty seal case appeared at this time, such a big case, that's why Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry!

But these are just Zhu Qi's conjectures. Whether it is true or not, Zhu Qi actually doesn't have a particularly great desire to explore.

After Zhu Biao finished speaking, he saw Zhu Qi's face full of confidence, and knew in his heart that the third child must have some good ideas, so he hurriedly asked:

"Third brother, do you have any way to distinguish loyalty from traitors?"

Zhu Qi said:

"There is a way, although it may not be easy to use, it is better than thinking about it.

It's just that the amount of work may be relatively large, and I need some extra help. "

Zhu Qi already has the help of those Jinyiwei, but these Jinyiwei are more likely to be good at spying, but whether they are good at mathematics or not is a question mark.

And since Zhu Qi wanted to investigate the empty printing case, the first thing he had to do was to sort out the central and local finances.

Only by sorting out these two finances, and then comparing them to see how much error there is, can we find the direction of the sponsorship.

This requires a large number of people to perform calculations. Although Zhu Qi is very confident in his mathematical ability, if he wants to rely on him alone, and even a few other craftsmen, he wants to make the Ming Dynasty so huge. It is really a dream to calculate the tax of the organization.

Even if it is the imperial court, it is the result of thousands of people spending a long time together to figure it out.

As soon as Zhu Biao heard what Zhu Qi said, he immediately patted his chest and said:

"Third brother, don't worry, as long as you have a way, no matter what kind of help you want, I can find a way for you."

Zhu Qi waited for Zhu Biao's words, he immediately clapped his hands and said to Zhu Biao:

"Brother, this is what you said, so please lend me all the students from the Imperial College!"

Zhu Biao was taken aback, and asked:

"What do you want those students from the Imperial College to do? They only know how to read, and I'm afraid it's a bit too embarrassing for them to tell the difference between loyalty and traitor."

Zhu Qi said with a smile:

"Sometimes it is a big skill to be able to read well.

Didn't I start a math class some time ago?Many students in the Imperial College have already studied this course for a year.

In the subject of mathematics, numbers can never lie. "

As soon as Zhu Biao heard this, he immediately understood what Zhu Qi wanted these students for, but Zhu Biao quickly said:
"Third, what are you going to do? I probably know it, but so many court officials haven't figured it out, can those students figure it out?"

"I definitely couldn't figure it out before." Zhu Qi said confidently:

"But as long as you have studied mathematics in the Imperial College and can pass the exam, I believe there will be no problem."

Zhu Qixin is full of confidence. He is very confident in modern mathematics teaching, but Zhu Biao doesn't know the power of mathematics, so he is a little bit drummed in his heart.

But now Zhu Biao has no other way, and if he can really help those officials who are not guilty of the crime, Zhu Biao is still willing to help.

So Zhu Biao didn't say anything more, and quickly took out his token and handed it to Zhu Qi.

With this crown prince's token, let alone the students, even the officials of the Six Departments, Zhu Qi can mobilize them.

But now a large part of the six officials are in jail, and they are still waiting for others to rescue them.

After Zhu Qi left Zhu Biao's side, he soon started to get busy.

The first thing is to go to Zheng Shiyuan, Zheng Shiyuan is now the teacher of the Imperial College, the purpose of looking for Zheng Shiyuan is to make him anxious, his former students.

It is also thanks to the fact that Zhu Qi's new learning has been widely promoted.

As a representative of Xinxue, Zheng Shiyuan's mathematics course also attracted many Confucian students to study.

After all, you can ask questions in math class if you have nothing to do. It's something related to the new learning.

As a student of Guozijian, he must be top-notch in terms of learning. After all, these candidates are all outstanding students from all over the country.

In the early Ming Dynasty, private school education was not as popular as it was in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

Guozijian still represents the highest academic level across the country, and it also absorbs the best group of students.

Their learning ability is not comparable to that of ordinary people, so although the course of mathematics is a bit too advanced for the current Ming Dynasty people, it is not incomprehensible to these students.

Moreover, after more than a year of study, most of these people have mastered all the content of junior high school mathematics.

In the course of auditing, the mathematical formulas used are actually not that complicated.

The difficulty of accounting and auditing is that the data is very complex.

If you want to make no mistakes at all, it is a test of patience and ability.

Naturally, Zheng Shiyuan also knew about the recent airlift case.

So Zheng Shiyuan was shocked when he heard that His Royal Highness King Liao was in charge of investigating the case.

According to Zheng Shiyuan's thinking, this case is very difficult. If His Royal Highness Liao Wang can hide, it is better to hide away, which is more appropriate.

Zhu Qi also wanted to hide, but the key was that he couldn't hide, so he could only give a wry smile, telling Zheng Shiyuan to gather the students and start working quickly, sooner rather than later!

After all, the time given by Zhu Yuanzhang is not particularly abundant.

And when the students were summoned, Zhu Qi quickly got in touch with those guards in brocade clothes.

The former prince's personal guards now have their own separate yamen, which is the Jinyiwei official office located in the west of the imperial city.

The name of the Jinyiwei official office is not actually Jinyiwei, but Beizhen Fusi Yamen.

Just looking at the name and plaque of this yamen, it looks like a little-known yamen, but in fact this yamen will become an imperial court institution that will shake the whole world in the future.

However, in the follow-up reputation, there may be more notoriety.

After all, Jin Yiwei is dealing with those scholars with pens. If you offend these scholars, do you still want to have a good reputation?
It has to be said that the Jinyiwei may indeed have been a helper for a period of time in the history of the Ming Dynasty, but most of the time, the Jinyiwei still perfectly performed their duties, which is to defend the imperial power.

At least during the Hongwu period, apart from serving as Zhu Yuanzhang's weapons to eradicate those civil servants and generals, these Jinyiwei still acted impartially most of the time.

And because they are the personal guards around Zhu Yuanzhang, each of these Jinyi guards has a sense of honor and responsibility.

It is impossible for them to get together with the officials, because in the eyes of these royal guards, they are the personal guards of the emperor, and those officials are the objects of their own supervision.

In terms of status, you are already superior to those officials, which is why as long as you become a Jinyiwei, even a court official will not dare to do anything to you.

Jin Yiwei is directly under the emperor, and that court official may not be able to speak directly in front of the emperor like Jin Yiwei.

Those brocade guards were also very loyal. After seeing Zhu Qi coming to the yamen, they all stood up and saluted, and the first order Zhu Qi issued as the command room was:
Collect all the account books of the chief secretaries of the country and the account books of the central government. I, Liao King Zhu Qi, will recalculate today!
(End of this chapter)